What Haven’t You Seen Lately?

November 19, 2013

I know that some of you have followed me to Twitter, but the only reader who’s become a regular thorn in my side over there is Marty McKee, author of the estimable Johnny LaRue’s Crane Shot blog. Recently – after a quibble over whether another TV critic could still be taken seriously after he admitted he’d never seen The Bob Newhart Show – Marty asked me what major television series I’d never seen.

Now that’s a question that I’ve always loved asking other critics, in part because they hate it. No professional ever really seems eager to admit to the gaps in their knowledge. Especially nowadays, on the internet, any show of weakness is going to get you reamed. One of my college friends, now a respected film critic, was always suspiciously noncommittal whenever I inquired about which Hitchcock films he had under his belt. I also remember an “Ask the Critic” column (apparently no longer online) in which Manohla Dargis, then a lead film critic for the Los Angeles Times, was asked the dreaded question. Reluctantly, she agreed only to fess up to some examples from a single national cinema — Italian — and so we learned that she’d never gotten around to I Vitelloni.

Me, on the other hand, I’m an open book. Well, not really. But Marty asked for five TV shows I’ve never seen at all (apart from a stray clip here or there), and I figure I can admit to that many without completely decimating my credibility. So here goes. Never seen a single episode of any of these — not for lack of interest, just for lack of hours in the day.

1. Maude
2. Lou Grant
3. Taxi
4. thirtysomething
5. Homicide

I can think of a handful of others, but Marty asked for five so that’s all I’m giving up. Now it’s your turn. For all of you fellow expert-level TV maniacs, get your skeletons out of the closet: What are you embarrassed to admit you’ve never seen?

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23 Responses to “What Haven’t You Seen Lately?”

“Maude” isn’t that great of a show, but it’s worth seeing just because it’s hard to believe that cultural moment ever happened: A sitcom about a bunch of argumentative middle-aged liberals in Westchester County.

Please tell me I’m a benign thorn! I would hate to think I’m genuinely a pest. All my barbs are intended in good fun.

To prove I’m a good sport, I’ll play. If we’re sticking with classic series (though, honestly, I don’t think there are very many truly great or even very good shows I haven’t seen at least once):

PEYTON PLACE
SLATTERY’S PEOPLE
EAST SIDE/WEST SIDE
FALCON CREST
DEAR JOHN

I know this is a terrible list, but I have seen a lot of great TV at least once (and I stuck to shows that aired in the U.S.). I’ll make it up to you. Here’s another list that you can mock more easily:

Stephen, I’ve had daily access to a library of over 100,000 programs for the past 20 years. I honestly can’t think of one. Though I did just see my first episode of Eastbound & Down about two weeks ago.

Peyton Place
Slattery’s People (Though I really would love to)
The Eleventh Hour, 1962 (Again, I’m dying to see this show, the vintage reviews of this show make it seem quite interesting)
The Odd Couple
McHale’s Navy

Tom Skerritt is a favorite actor of mine. Picket Fences has been on my list, but things just keep getting in the way (star Trek Enterprise is on Blu-Ray now, and why did they have to create “on demand” library choices for DVD?)
:-)
PS I learned more about news watching Lou Grant than I did the first 18 months I actually worked in a newsroom. Great show, holds up today.

The dispiriting thing about Picket Fences is that the best seasons are the two in the middle, neither of which is on DVD. The first season can be streamed on Hulu Plus (but with commercials, yuck). So basically you’d still be dependent on whatever bootleg you could scrounge up.

Stephen,
I may not be Jewish but the idea that you, boychick, have not yet seen Taxi and Homicide,
Oi! Taxi’s Reverend Jim filling out the form to get a hack license is without doubt one of the funniest moments in tv history.
Anyway, my list:
Steve Allen Show
Adventures in Paradise
Nichols
Howdy Doody
Brady Bunch(when I was a kid,any male in my neighborhood who watched the Bradys would have been a serial victim of atomic wedgies)

It’s a bit different for me since I focus on short-lived shows the vast majority of people haven’t seen, rather than “major” big-name ones. There are too many to name but here are five widely-regarded-as-classics I’ve never seen:

1) The Honeymooners (the Classic 39 — I saw one episode of “The Color Honeymooners” on ALN and it was atrocious)
2) Lou Grant
3) The Bob Newhart Show
4) Sanford and Son
5) The Defenders